Drop in pyrethrum harvest forces regulator to ditch collection trucks

The Pyrethrum Directorate has withdrawn trucks from collecting flowers from farmers in some regions, following a drop in production.

The crop which has fallen off Kenya’s export radar, used to be collected by trucks in the 90s, but now the directorate has shifted to use of pick-ups as growing zones like Molo, Nyandarua, Naivasha record low harvests.

The crop is now grown by about 1,000 farmers on small parcels of land compared to more than 200,000 farmers years ago.

Nakuru pyrethrum growers association chairman Samuel Kihiu says the farmers have been forced to dry the flowers on their own, following delays in collection from the pick-up points.

“During the early 1990s, the board provided trucks which collected the produce at the various point and dried the flowers, but now farmers have to rely on sunlight,” says Mr Kihiu.

Solomon Odera, the interim head of the Pyrethrum and Other Industrial Crops Directorate, says the trucks are on stand-by and will only be redeployed once farmers boost their production.

“Collection of flowers is not done daily, but the trucks are used when the quantity has accumulated for a number of days as they carry up to six tonnes,” said Mr Odera.

At the moment, he said, the regulatory authority uses the trucks while collecting pyrethrum from far areas like West Pokot where the farmers take the flowers to a central collection point, he said.

Over the years, production of pyrethrum has plummeted from 18,000 tonnes—when the crop was one of the top four export crops— to a paltry 900 tonnes or five per cent of the 90s levels.

Despite most pyrethrum farmers having abandoned the crop for horticulture farming and dairy keeping, Mr Kihiu is optimistic the industry will turn around.

The government has proposed to inject Sh300 million for the revival of the pyrethrum sub-sector next financial year.

“In the past four years the government has allocated the same amount towards the revival of the industry, but now time has come for the regulatory authority to revive the crop,” said Mr Kihiu.

Mr Odera says with the continuous commitment by the government towards the revival of the sector, they expect to secure a bigger market for the pyrethrum products this year both locally and internationally.

The industry is banking on plans to replace synthetic insecticides in the market with pyrethrum-based products to boost farmers’ earnings.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in April said it would undertake a study on the possibility of developing the insecticides from locally grown pyrethrum flowers in what could open a new market outlet to hundreds of farmers.